Friday 22 January 2016

without the body





Otherwise, it would not matter
that my fingertips

start just under your ear
and move with impossible

luxury, almost undetectable touch,
down the side of the breathing

throat, over the collarbone
and the supreme smooth paleness

of the shoulder,
down the inside of your arm,

finding the slight blue veins
of the wrist, and lingering

long in the palm.
Without the body,

why would i want
the gesture to consume a thousand years?

Without the body, where
would memory knot

us to the world?


from Sense (James Owens)












4 comments:

Miriam said...

Probabil este destul de stupid sa spun asa ceva-dar la asta m-am gandit, cumva, azi, o parte din zi, avand ca subiect de meditatie rodia:) cred ca este de ajuns sa privesti o rodie in mod cat de cat cumsecade, ca sa nu iti mai doresti in veci decorporalizarea:)-iarasi ceva ce suna aiurea, insa azi si acum, privind imaginile, "ascultand" poezia, melodia aceasta imi suna in urechi; iar urechile nu mai sunt din piele si carne, ci din sidef; degetele sunt din alabastru; parul din ramuri de filigrin intunecat; talpile-din fire de nisip filtrat...nu conteaza ca nisipul, ramurile, alabastrul sau sideful traiesc, si ele, epoci-este, acesta, tabloul descris de betisorul subtire al unui copil pe malul marii, in timp ce soarele ineaca plaja.

erin said...

i would like to comment. i would like to. but then i can not get past the power of her eyes. i can't. i become immobile. there is such challenge there - but i can't understand the nature of the challenge. (entreaty? but that is a challenge too.) it is too powerful to understand.

and then i read the passage. and i am obliterated. i'm left with nothing~

in the presence of this post i feel terribly sad (for it is fleeting). and utterly grateful (for it is fleeting).

Roxana said...

pentru tine, draga - acel gest din poezia lui James, acel dor, acea dorinta de a patrunde in celalalt complet, si a-l absorbi in tine -

Roxana said...

i had two images for this poem, this one and another one taken one second after (how fleeting yes) - and in the other one she has already closed the eyes, for an instant - in the end i decided i needed that expression in her eyes, that power - as you call it - i am grateful you have confirmed my intuition -